East Coast Harmonica Retreat Week-end
Mark "Bird" Stafford
It would be so appropriate to be able to imply that Mark “Bird” Stafford earned his nickname from his ability to soar on the harmonica in the fiery fashion of Charlie Parker. Sorry. Different “Bird”. But – like Parker – Mark shares a phenomenal passion for making music and, as he’s been performing since he was knee-high to a sharecropper, he’s developed a musical voice that’s become somewhat legendary in these parts – and beyond.
For good reason. A serious student of “fat tone” harmonica, he subscribes to the teachings of the masters: Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, Junior Wells and James Cotton, imbuing what he’s learned with a healthy dose off his own creativity. He also injects these influences with the spirited new blood of cats including Kim Wilson, William Clarke and Rod Piazza. That’s a serious stack of mentorship but The Bird has listened and listened hard. And he plays back the lessons learned with all the love and respect befitting a forever blues student who is more than ready to register his own contribution to the genre. From the frenzy he can generate from a crowd and on a dance floor to the smooth, mercurial side of his musical personality, Mark pours it on with a highly-polished singing voice and the comparably subtle, expressive tones of his accomplished harpmanship. Those who have been to Bird’s church are the first to testify but never the last.
